


Chasing a Star-Filled Dream

by MetamorphicRocky



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Season 6 Spoilers, broganes, it’s gonna be some good ol’ brotherly angst and fluff and lots of speculation on specifics, others will be added as they show up because I currently do not know who will show up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-05-24 18:15:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14959667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MetamorphicRocky/pseuds/MetamorphicRocky
Summary: Keith had given up on being in a family or following his dreams to join the Garrison after the death of his father. But after meeting Shiro, things might be getting better for Keith.





	1. Guest Speaker

**Author's Note:**

> My first Voltron fic, and also my first multi-chapter one. Wow, hope I don’t screw it up. For an update schedule...I’m aiming for a chapter a week maybe. If I can sit down and write a bunch then maybe it could be quicker than that. Luckily, it’s summer vacation!! Anyways, season six FUCKED me up on so many levels, and I had to write some Broganes content because I’m still crying.

Keith ignored the eager chatter of his classmates for the fiftieth time that day. He just wanted to go to bed and forget about everything. And not be at stupid school, listening to the stupid guest speaker that he was going to have to sit through for two whole hours. 

Keith sighed as the kids next to him rambled on and on about how they wanted to go to the Galaxy Garrison. Must have been nice to dream.

“I want to be an astronaut so badly! My parents say it’s the best thing to be.”

“I could go to another planet and be famous!”

“Imagine flying a rocket! That would be so cool!”

On and on it went as they waited for the speaker to show up. None of them thought about it realistically, and it was all just stupid childish fantasies about going to space. Who didn’t want to be an astronaut at some point?

Keith slumped further into the safety of his desk as he remembered his dad, and the way that they would watch the stars together every night. How his dad would bring out the telescope, teaching him about the different constellations and planets and stars. The melancholic look he would get as the night drew on, staring so deeply into the patterns of stars that he was no longer looking at them. Keith, staring awestruck at the sky as he sat in his dad’s lap, his strong arms wrapping around Keith in the warmest hugs—

Keith sniffed, and that was when he realized that the room had gotten oddly quiet. All of the excited kids had turned to look at him, some muttering things under their breaths. Keith touched his fingers to his cheeks to meet wetness, and his cheeks reddened in embarrassment. 

Before anyone could start making fun of him for tough Keith crying like a baby, he bolted out of the room. He walked away from the classroom briskly, ignoring how his vision got blurrier the farther away he went. 

Keith stopped in the middle of the hallway, and he walked over to the wall, slumping down against it to the floor. He sat hunched into the protection of his knees against his chest and tried to stem the flow of tears. 

He couldn’t cry over his dad anymore; he was dead, and he would never come back. Keith just needed to stop being pathetic and get over it already. 

Keith shook in his thin, red hoodie, trying so hard to not cry. He had no right to cry, and he wasn’t allowed to be weak like this. Keith scrubbed furiously at the tears that continued to fall across his cheeks, attempting to push them back with sheer force.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Keith jumped at the deep voice of someone _way_ older than him, and he peeked his head up to look at who it was. It was a tall, young man who he had never seen before, and was he wearing a Garrison uniform?

The man kneeled down in front of him with a concerned look on his face. “What’s wrong, kiddo?”

Keith quickly forced his tear-stained face into a scowl as he tried to wipe away the rest of his tears. “None of your business. And I’m not a kid,” Keith huffed. 

The man raised an eyebrow with a small smirk on his face. “Not a kid, huh? My deepest apologies for misjudging, sir.”

Keith groaned and rolled his eyes at this idiot. He wasn’t funny, not at all.

“Do you wanna tell me what was wrong?” the man asked, changing the subject. 

Keith curled further into himself and shook his head, glaring at the tiles in front of the man.

“That’s alright, but are you okay now?”

“I’m fine,” Keith snapped. “You from the Garrison?”

Keith looked up now that the topic changed, and the man nodded with a small smile. He stopped kneeling and sat down in front of Keith with no hesitance.

“Yes, I’m a guest speaker for one of the classes today.” He seemed so proud of that fact that Keith just wanted to burst his bubble a little.

“You’re late. By like half an hour.”

The man’s eye twitched, and he cleared his throat. “There was...quite the traffic jam.”

Keith raised his eye at that with a small, evil smirk. “You overslept, didn’t you?”

The man groaned dramatically with a pout, “My friend purposefully changed my alarm time to mess with me.”

Keith laughed. “Yeah, like I’ll believe that.”

“It’s true!” the man defended, a faint pink tinting his cheeks. 

Keith laughed again at his disgruntled expression, and the man sighed before smiling with a small shake of his head. Keith swore that he heard a muttered something about a Matt getting his ass whooped later under his breath, so he hid another laugh.

“My name is Takashi Shirogane, and yours?” the man asked with a smile, holding out his hand to shake. 

Keith glanced wearily at the outstretched hand, but he gave in and shook it once with a curt, “Keith.”

“It’s nice to meet you Keith.” God, this man sure did want to prolong this greeting. 

Keith nodded in agreement. “You, too, Takashi Shirogane. Sure is a shame that we’ll never see each other again.”

“How come? Not planning on joining the Garrison when you’re older?” Takashi asked. 

“Space is stupid,” Keith mumbled, still recovering from his reminiscing over his dad. The Garrison was his one goal when he was little, but his love of the stars died with his dad.

Takashi seemed taken aback by that statement, probably not being used to kids who actually disliked space. He sat there with his mouth slightly agape, but space guy recovered pretty quickly.

“Are you going to be there for my talk?” Keith nodded, and Takashi smiled. “Well, I hope that I can change your opinion on space and the Garrison. Speaking of which, I’m already very late and don’t know where I’m going. Could you take me there?”

Keith nodded and stood up, walking ahead without waiting for Takashi. He quickly caught up with Keith and walked next to him, his boots clacking against the linoleum floors. 

When they reached the room, Takashi stopped before they entered and kneeled down to Keith’s level. “If I manage to change your mind, catch me before I leave.”

Without giving Keith time to reply, he stood and opened the door, allowing Keith in first before he entered after him. Keith snuck back to his seat as the other kids all gasped and cheered at the entrance of the Garrison speaker. 

“Alright, alright. Everyone, settle down now,” their teacher said loudly over all the ruckus. “As you all know, we have a very special guest speaker here with us today. Now, I’d like for us all to give a warm welcome to Takashi Shirogane!”

The class clapped as Takashi gave a small wave, and Keith turned away from the front of the room as he glared at nothing in particular to his left. Takashi began with some random Garrison stuff that was probably protocol to say, and Keith tuned him out. 

Takashi would not be able to win him over, especially considering how orphans didn’t have money to use to get into the best space program in the world. Even though Keith still put in effort to learn more about space when he could, he would never get the chance to go to the Garrison. Even when deep, deep down, Keith still had that dream. 

Keith scowled. He couldn’t get his hopes up because orphans never earned chances, and it wouldn’t change for someone like him. 

The class all loudly gasping brought Keith’s attention back to Takashi, and his eyes widened at the star map being shown up front. 

“This is a 3D map of our galaxy, pretty cool, huh? There are about 250 billion stars in our galaxy, give or take 150 billion,” Takashi said, drawing the attention of all the students. 

Keith noticed how surprised the whole class was by that fact, but wasn’t that pretty basic to know? Did all of these aspiring Garrison students actually not know a single thing about space? 

The future was screwed. 

Takashi had started talking about the different kinds of stars and planets, and Keith finally gave into the slight temptation to listen to the guy speak. He knew all of this already, but the way Takashi talked gave the impression that he loved what he was doing unconditionally. 

And, maybe, Keith wanted that a little bit.

Keith continued to pay attention, switching between either knowing everything Takashi was talking about, or actually learning new facts. 

That was how Keith spent the rest of the lecture that went way over two hours since so many people kept on asking questions, and Takashi was so thorough in explaining them all. As Takashi asked one final time if there were anymore questions, and no one raised their hands, he smiled and raised his own hand to the confusion of everyone else. 

“Well,” Takashi said to the lost class, “I have a question, so could someone please call on me before my arm falls off?”

Everyone laughed, and then the entire class shouted out a loud, “Mr. Shirogane!”

Takashi smiled as the class giggled. “How many of you really want to go to the Garrison after today?”

The entire class burst into loud noise, everyone shoving their hands in the air as they proclaimed their dreams to be astronauts. Well, all except Keith. And somehow, Takashi noticed that small detail. 

Takashi shuffled around so that he could make direct eye contact with Keith, and he raised an eyebrow with a slightly disappointed expression on his face. Keith couldn’t...there was no chance of him going to the Garrison, but...maybe....

Tentatively, Keith raised his hand, and Takashi’s face broke into a massive grin. 

The class all cheered and yelled as Takashi packed up to leave, and everyone rushed up to him for pictures and autographs and side questions. Keith stayed in his seat until Takashi forced his way through his little fanbase to get to Keith. 

Everyone, including Keith, was surprised by the action. Shiro grabbed a marker as he ripped up a small piece of paper, writing something down on it. He handed it to the shocked Keith with a small hair ruffle, and Keith could only stare up at Takashi in confusion.

Takashi smiled warmly, simply saying, “Just in case you ever want me to change your mind some more.”

And with that, Takashi left to the sounds of the class yelling goodbyes, and the day continued on.

But for the first time in what felt like forever, Keith walked to the home after school with a smile on his face. He stared at that little piece of paper instead of fixing his ruffled hair; a small piece of paper that contained a little doodle of Takashi winking with a thumbs up, a note to call him Shiro, and his phone number. 

Maybe, just maybe, Keith had a shot at that whole space dream after all.


	2. Study Session #1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been debating whether to wait to post this or not for like two days. I gave in to the temptation.
> 
> Thank you for all the support I’ve gotten for this story!! I really appreciate all the comments and stuff!! Hopefully I don’t disappoint with this next chapter!
> 
> I pray that I write the next chapter...relatively soon.... Oh! If you ever wanna chat about Broganes or anything else, I have a Tumblr of the same username as on here!

“Keith, what are you doing?”

Keith jumped from his spot on the floor and whipped around to face whoever it was. It was Sarah, one of the older kids at the home. She stood there, her arms crossed, and a confusedly exasperated expression on her face. 

“I, um, nothing?” Keith stammered.

Sarah raised an unamused eyebrow at his expression, calling Keith out on his pathetic bluff. Keith felt his cheeks redden in embarrassment, and he shoved his hands deep into his hoodie pocket. 

“I was, uhh, gonna make a phone call,” Keith said.

Sarah rolled her eyes and said as she walked away, “You have to actually pick up the phone to make a call, not just stare at it for twenty minutes.”

Keith’s face became a bright shade of red. “I know that! I’m not stupid!” he shouted back at her. He huffed out a sigh, pouting his lips in annoyance. Stupid Sarah, always being an annoying prick. 

Keith shook his head to focus back on his trying task of actually making a phone call. He took the small piece of paper with Shiro’s number out of his pocket and stared at it. He was actually going to call him. And talk to him about...something.

Keith could wordy about what they would talk about after he succeeded in step one, which was to pick up the phone and dial the number. Keith grabbed the phone off of its stand and carefully dialed in each number, checking over and over again that he wasn’t going to call some random pizza place or something. 

Keith placed the strip of paper back in its safe place once he realized that him checking the number was just him trying to stall. Phone calls weren’t that difficult, right? Just call, say hi, and...other stuff. Keith hadn’t used a phone to make a call in a long time, so he was kind of clueless.

Well, it was time to rip of the bandaid. Keith gulped and took a deep breath, then he hit call. He pressed the phone up against his ear as he listened to it ring. After a few rings, Keith was almost about to hang up in case Shiro was in some important adult meeting, and the phone call would get him in trouble.

Right before Keith ended the call, he heard a quick, “Hello?”

Keith shoved the phone up against his ear again, and he was about to say hi in response when his mind blanked. Keith panicked, he had to say something!

“Uh, hello? Anyone–“

“HI!” Keith _screeched_ into the phone. He winced at the volume of his voice, but he continued anyways, “I, uh, um...Keith. I’m– uh, it’s Keith. Calling you.”

Keith slammed his forehead against the wall as his cheeks burned red. He was so stupid!

“Oh! Hi, Keith. I was wondering if you would call. How’s it going?” Shiro asked, quickly recovering from Keith’s awkward greeting.

“I’m fine. You?” Keith said.

Shiro groaned on the other end. “I’m exhausted. I’ve been running flight tests all day, and I’ve been in three different meetings. But, I won’t waste our call complaining. How’s school?”

“School,” Keith muttered.

“Boring, huh?” Shiro asked. “Some things in school are like that, but you’ll be done before you know it. And summer vacation is just around the corner.”

“Wish it was over with now.”

Shiro laughed, and Keith smiled slightly. He was glad he could make someone laugh, even if he didn’t know Shiro very well yet. 

“So, Keith. I’m guessing you called to learn more, right?” Shiro asked.

“I, uh, I guess so, yeah,” Keith said quietly. 

Keith didn’t really know why he called, but he guessed that he just wanted to talk to someone. He hadn’t had anyone to ramble about space with since his father’s death, nor anyone to talk to in general. Even the other kids at the home didn’t talk to him often, and there was no chance that anyone in school would talk to him. 

“Well, I’d be happy to teach you whenever you’re free. If it’s okay with your parents, of course.”

Keith stiffened at that. “Yeah, my parents are, um, fine with it. They said it’s cool,” Keith added quickly and quietly. 

“Would you want me to come to your house? That might–“

“Not my house!” Keith interrupted. Oh, that was a little too loud and too quick. Keith had to fix this, and quickly. “My house is...loud. Too loud to study in,” Keith lied. Okay, that wasn’t a total lie. The home was incredibly loud. 

“How about the library? I could meet you there on Wednesday after school, if it works for you,” Shiro offered.

Keith nodded, but realized that Shiro couldn’t see him. “Yeah, that’s good.”

“Perfect! Well, I’ve got to run to another meeting, so I’ll see you then, Keith. Bye!”

“Bye, Shiro,” Keith said.

Then, he hung up the phone and placed it back on its stand. Keith let out the breath he didn’t realize that he was holding in, relaxing against the wall behind him. 

Wednesday. Wednesday, Keith had plans. For the first time in _ages_.

Keith smiled in anticipation. First phone call, success!

* * *

Keith ran out of school the moment he could on Wednesday, and he sprinted all the way back to the home to drop off his stuff and get what he needed. The moment he got there, he ran into his shared room and dumped all of his homework on his bed and shoved some pencils, a ratty old notebook, and the library books he needed to return in his slowly falling apart backpack.

Keith threw it on and ran through the home until he found the lady in charge. She was a woman on the older side, and she had a vicious personality. Well, towards Keith, at least. Keith found her in her office, clearly waiting on hold as she held her phone to her ear. 

He knocked on the doorframe cautiously to get her attention, and her eyes snapped up to him impatiently. 

“Can’t you see that I’m on the phone?” she spat. Keith could clearly heard the waiting music on the other end, but he didn’t say anything about it.

“I’m going to the library,” Keith said. She groaned and waved him off, so Keith sprinted out of the house. 

He hoped that old crow croaked some day soon. Maybe from one of those old people diseases, like a heart attack or retirement. As long as she was out of Keith’s hair, he didn’t care. 

Keith ran as fast as he could to get to the library. Shiro didn’t set a specific time, but Keith didn’t want to make him wait or anything. And Keith feared that if Shiro had to wait too long, he might just leave. Keith didn’t want to miss out on his one chance for something better, so he would not be late.

With that in mind, Keith sped up and kept on running until he reached the library. He stopped in front of the doors as he caught his breath from running so much. It didn’t help that he lived in the desert, and it was _hot_. 

When Keith recovered, he walked into the library and sighed deeply when the air conditioning hit his sweaty face. Keith walked up to the return desk and took off his backpack to grab his books.  
He placed them on the desk with his library card, then took off his hoodie to place in his bag.

“Oh, hello Keith!” The old woman at the counter smiled at him as she started grabbing his books.

“Hi, Mrs. Robinson,” Keith said politely.

“Are you going to check out some new books today? Well, if you can find any that you haven’t read yet, of course!” She laughed at her own joke, and Keith smiled. She was one of the only nice adults Keith knew, and it was a shame that he saw her only once in a while. 

“Maybe, but I’m meeting someone here today.”

Mrs. Robinson seemed delightfully shocked by that, and she smiled warmly. “You’ll have to introduce me to this friend of yours. I never see you with anyone else, it’s always just you.”

Keith nodded, and she gave him his card back. He bent down to put it in his bag, and when he stood up, he noticed Shiro walking into the library. Shiro noticed him as well, and he waved as he came over to Keith.

“Hey, Keith! I hope I haven’t made you wait too long,” Shiro greeted with a smile.

Keith shook his head. “Nah, just got here.”

“Oh, is this who you were meeting, Keith?” Mrs. Robinson piped up.

Shiro turned his attention to the librarian with his hand outstretched for a shake. “Yes, I’m here for Keith. My name is Takashi Shirogane, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Mrs. Robinson stopped shaking his hand when he said his name, looking up at him in surprise. “Oh, you’re that pilot from the Garrison! I’ve heard so many good things about you! What brings you here with Keith?”

Shiro blushed slightly at the praise. “I’m going to give Keith some lessons on space and astronomy.”

The librarian laughed at that. “Well, Keith here is quite the space expert.”

Keith blushed and looked down at the ground. He didn’t want Shiro to find out, but he knew he would have eventually. Shiro hummed, and Keith couldn’t tell what Shiro was feeling. 

“Really? I had the impression that he wasn’t interested,” Shiro said, a hint of suspicion in his voice. 

“Oh, yes! Every book he checks out has something to do with space. All fact books, too. Well, I’ll let you two go now. Have fun, you two!”

Shiro said something in reply as Keith said goodbye, and the two walked off to find a place to settle down. They stayed silent until Shiro picked out a couch in a corner where they wouldn’t be disturbed.

Keith sat down hesitantly and took off his backpack, setting it down next to his feet. Keith avoided making eye contact with Shiro, worrying about what the man would say. Would Shiro not want to teach him anymore since Keith apparently did like space? Would he be mad at him for lying?

Oh boy, Keith was very nervous now. He was so nervous that Shiro would be mad at him or something that he didn’t notice Shiro was trying to gain his attention until he felt Shiro’s hand on his shoulder. 

“You okay, Keith?” Shiro asked.

Keith finally looked up at him to see that Shiro looked concerned, and Keith was so taken aback by the concern in his eyes that he could only nod in response.

Keith was apparently convincing enough that Shiro dropped the concerned look to raise an eyebrow at him with a small smirk on his face.

“So, you like space, huh?” Shiro asked. “I seem to recall that you called it stupid.”

“Yeah, I like it,” Keith mumbled. 

Shiro settled back into the couch cushion. “Why did you say it was stupid if you like it?”

“It’s ‘cause...,” Keith trailed off. 

What was he supposed to say? That he was an orphan with no money and had a horrible track record that the Garrison would never want? That no one believed in him since his dad died, and that there was no reason for Shiro to even be attempting to be nice to him?

“I, um. My parents...they don’t, uh, want me to go to the Garrison when I’m older,” Keith lied.

Shiro arched an eyebrow in confusion. “I thought you said that they were fine with this?”

Keith gulped as he came up with another lie. “I said that you were a tutor, for school.”

Shiro frowned. “Well, I wouldn’t want to lie to them. If I could talk to them, maybe I could convince them that the Garrison would be good for you.”

Keith shook his head and deepened the lie, “They won’t change their mind. If you don’t want to teach me anymore, that’s fine.”

It wasn’t fine with Keith, but he didn’t dare say that to Shiro. He shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up, nothing good ever came of it. Shiro would leave, and that would be that. Keith should have known better than this to dream. 

“I’m still going to teach you, Keith. We can figure out what to do about your parents when it comes closer to registration time. You have a few years until then,” Shiro assured. He placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder and squeezed it gently.

“Really?” Keith asked quietly.

“Yes, really.” 

Shiro smiled warmly at Keith, and it made Keith feel really good. It was an odd feeling, but it reminded him of something that he couldn’t place.

“Now, I was going to give you an introductory lesson on the basics, but I bet you know all of that already?” Keith nodded. “Thought so. Well, we can talk about whatever you want.”

“You’re a famous pilot?” Keith asked. It had been bothering him ever since the librarian mentioned it.

Shiro nodded. “It’s probably because I’m so young that I became ‘famous.’ The Garrison is conducting a mission that should launch in a few years that’s going to Kerberos, and I’m going to be the pilot.”

Keith gasped so loudly that he was worried someone would tell him to be quiet. “You’re going to Kerberos?!” Keith yelled excitedly.

Shiro shushed him while laughing. “Yes, I am. I still can’t believe that I got chosen. This will be the longest journey in history, and a pilot who just got out of training will be going.”

“How old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

“What?! I thought most people aren’t done with training until their mid-twenties!” Keith exclaimed. “You must be really good.”

Shiro’s cheeks tinted pink, and he looked a little awkward. “Lots of people say I’m the best pilot the Garrison ever had, but I’m just so grateful that I get to go on the Kerberos mission. That was what all those meetings were about.”

“Can you tell me more about the mission? And Kerberos?” Keith asked. 

“Well, I’m not supposed to talk about all the details of it. The mission was only announced to the public a few weeks ago.”

“Please, Shiro? I promise not to tell anyone!” Keith begged. He was so excited, and he had to know more! Keith would resort to bribery and tricks to learn about this mission if it came down to that.

“Well, I don’t know,” Shiro said. 

“Pleeesease?”

Shiro sighed, “Alright, fine. No one else finds out, got it?”

Keith nodded his head enthusiastically. Shiro smiled, and then dove into all the facts behind the Kerberos mission. He talked about the people who would go with him, the ship, everything. Shiro also taught Keith more about Kerberos, facts that the public didn’t know about yet. He detailed the experiments that would be done, the samples that would be taken. 

It was the coolest three hours of Keith’s life, and he never wanted it to end. Keith had taken out his notebook at one point to write down the things Shiro told him about flight trajectory, the logistics behind space travel, and astronomical facts about Kerberos and Pluto’s other moons. 

Shiro was finishing up his anecdote about Commander Holt, one of the men on the mission, when Keith’s stomach grumbled very loudly. Keith’s face went red as Shiro laughed quietly.

“This has been going on for quite a while, I’m not used to kids having such good focus. Or this much prior knowledge,” Shiro said proudly. “I hope I haven’t made you miss dinner.”

Keith looked at the time on the wall and winced. Yep, he definitely missed dinner. The old hag wouldn’t feed him after this long, so Keith would just have to miss dinner again tonight. He frowned, missing dinner was the worst, and Keith just wanted to be able to eat a normal dinner for once. 

“Hey, how about I take you out for dinner?” Shiro asked standing up from the couch. “As an apology for making you miss dinner at home.”

Keith made it that obvious? “Uh, no, you don’t have to!” Keith said, suddenly really nervous.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. Unless your parents would have a problem with it?”

“They won’t mind, but I, uh, don’t have any money,” Keith mumbled. 

“Keith, I wouldn’t be expecting you to pay. You’re a kid, and besides, it’s my treat. So, what do you say?”

He didn’t want Keith to pay? Oh, Keith was conflicted. Yeah, he wanted to eat dinner tonight, but he didn’t want Shiro to have to pay for everything. Well, Keith could always pay him back....

“Okay.”

“Great! Anywhere specific you want to go?” Shiro asked, beaming down at Keith. Why was Keith letting Shiro buy him dinner making him so happy?

Keith shook his head, and Shiro mentioned something about a diner nearby. Keith threw his hoodie back on to avoid getting cold, and he followed Shiro out. 

When they stepped outside of the library, Keith’s attention was immediately drawn to the darkening sky. The orange, red, and violent hues drew Keith’s eyes to the slowly appearing stars, and the way that they shone in the blackening sky. Keith noticed Shiro looking up, too, and Keith turned to really look at Shiro for the first time that night.

His Garrison uniform had been replaced with a leather jacket and a black t-shirt of all things, and he wore casual jeans. Shiro looked like a completely different person, and a small sadness wormed its way into Keith’s chest when Shiro turned to look at him; Shiro looked an awful lot like his dad, despite having a different haircut and being significantly younger. 

“Come on, Keith. I’d like you to get home with time to rest since you have school tomorrow.”

Shiro started walking when Keith did, leading him to a small diner a little ways down the street. Shiro held the door open for him, so Keith snuck in before Shiro followed. 

One of the passing waitresses came up to them and asked in a southern accent, “There only two of you tonight?”

Shiro nodded. “Yes, just us tonight.”

“Right this way.”

The waitress led them to a booth and set down menus in front of the both of them, quickly taking out her notepad. “Can I get you two any drinks?”

“I’ll have a Coke,” Shiro said.

“And what can I get for the little guy?” 

Keith had to remind himself that punching waitresses for treating him like a little kid in front of a really cool pilot was _not_ the way to go, so he clenched his fists in his pocket. 

“Water,” Keith said. 

Both the waitress and Shiro looked surprised at that, making Keith feel self-conscious. 

“Are you sure, Keith? You can get whatever you want, even if it’s a milkshake,” Shiro encouraged.

Keith was realizing that Shiro was different from other adults because no adult Keith knew would offer to buy him whatever he wanted. And to encourage something like a milkshake? Keith couldn’t believe it. 

“Really?” Keith gasped, completely giving into the long temptation to get ice cream after not having it for so long. 

Shiro’s face showed that he was thinking about something seriously, but Keith couldn’t guess what. 

“Of course, Keith.”

Keith nervously turned to the waitress and asked, “Could I get a strawberry milkshake?”

“Of course! You’ll love our milkshakes, they’re to die for!” the waitress cheered as she went off to put in the orders. 

“From what I knew, I thought that kids would jump at the chance to order whatever they wanted at a restaurant,” Shiro stated, kind of directing a question at Keith. 

“I don’t want you to waste your money on me,” Keith said quietly. 

He doubted that Shiro had even heard it over the loud environment of the diner, but somehow, he had.

“Keith, if someone offers to buy you something, they mean it. So, order whatever you want.”

Keith wanted to argue, to say that sometimes people didn’t follow through with their promises, but he didn’t. Shiro was being awfully nice, and Keith had no idea how to deal with it.

So, Keith guiltily flipped through the menu a few times until the waitress came back. Keith looked up at her to see a _giant_ milkshake on her tray. His mouth dropped open, and he caught Shiro’s look of surprise in the corner of his eye.

“Here ya’ go! Why don’t you try it now to see if you like it?” she asked, placing the milkshake in front of Keith. 

Keith stared at the first milkshake he was going to have since his dad died and questioned how he got lucky enough to have this. He sat up straight in his seat to properly drink it, sipping the straw slowly and—

“Oh my god,” Keith whispered under his breath.

“Do you like it, Keith?” Shiro asked. 

“It’s so good!” Keith exclaimed, smiling brightly at the drink. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever had!”

The waitress and Shiro laughed along with Keith’s excitement, and Keith’s heart did a weird little twisty thing in his chest. Was that...was he happy? Was that the word he’d been looking for all night? 

Keith’s smile stretched across his face at the realization, and Keith couldn’t clearly remember a time before now where he had felt so _happy_.

“It’s really good, thank you!” Keith said.

“Well, I sure am glad that you like it! Now what would you two like to eat?” Shiro placed his order quickly, and Keith did the same for his. The waitress wrote them both down quickly and then walked off with a smile.

“Is it really that good of a shake?” Shiro laughed, watching as Keith drank it greedily, yet trying to savor it at the same time. 

Keith took a break and glanced at Shiro, seeing how his eyes twinkled in mirth as his mouth was turned upwards into a lopsided smile. Shiro’s smile really did remind him of his dad, and it dampened Keith’s mood. 

Keith nodded, continuing to sip on his shake, but now at a slower speed. 

This whole thing with Shiro made him happier than he had been in years, but it wouldn’t last. It _couldn’t_ last. It would end the moment Shiro actually learned the truth about him, about how Keith wasn’t worth his time. But it was a nice break from his life, so he could deal with the repercussions later.

Shiro checked his phone, and Keith sipped his shake until their food came. They ate in relative silence, Shiro adding quick things here and there. Keith thought it was nice. 

His chicken fingers were great, and an added bonus to actually eating dinner for once. Shiro finished off his burger as the waitress brought the bill over for Shiro to pay. 

“Man, I sure wish I had a brother like yours who would buy me whatever I wanted,” the waitress said to Keith, startling him. “Well, you two have a good night!”

“You, too,” Shiro said as he stood up from the booth. Keith got up as well, and they left the diner to be met by the chill of the desert night. 

“How are you going to get home, Keith?” Shiro asked, looking down at him. 

“I, uh, I can walk,” Keith mumbled.

Shiro raised a brow at that. “It’s late, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt or something in the dark. I can bring you home.”

Keith shook his head. “No, it’s okay. I don’t live that far away. Just down the street,” Keith lied. It would probably take him a good half an hour to get home, but he didn’t want to bother Shiro anymore. 

“Can I at least walk you home? I don’t feel right just letting a kid walk home in the dark,” Shiro said. He had that questioning look on his face again, and Keith really wanted to know what was going through his head. 

“I’ve done it before, so it’s fine,” Keith muttered angrily. Why was he so persistent?

Shiro didn’t look pleased, but he relented with a sigh. “Okay. Is it good if we meet next Wednesday?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Perfect. I had fun tonight, Keith. Did you?”

Keith nodded. “Mhmm. Thanks, for the food and stuff.”

Shiro smiled and ruffled Keith’s hair, making Keith blush. Keith swatted his hand away after a moment, which caused Shiro to laugh.

“Well, goodnight, Keith. I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

Keith began walking in the direction of the home as he said, “Bye, Shiro.”

Keith walked quickly until he turned on the corner of the street, and he started to head back at a normal pace. Keith huffed out a sigh, watching as his breath made a puff in the air. He buried his hands deep into the pocket of his hoodie, trying to conserve warmth.

As Keith walked down the sidewalk, he titled his head up to face the dark sky. There were a lot less stars in the sky here compared to his old house in the middle of the desert, but there were still enough to find distinct constellations. Keith traced each one with his eyes, and he traced the ones that him and his dad had come up with when Keith was little. 

Keith wondered how this whole thing with Shiro was going to go. He felt ridiculously happy over that milkshake. It was such a simple thing, a _milkshake_ , that everyone probably took for granted, but that made Keith feel like everything was going right for once.

As Keith strolled back to the place he hated the most, staring at the flickering, yet constant constellations above his head, he didn’t sense the despair associated with the home as strongly as he usually did.


	3. Shiro the Helper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First and foremost, I am so sorry that this chapter was updated so late. I wanted to publish it on Wednesday, but I couldn’t finish it because I babysat my cousins at the last minute on Wednesday and then they slept over. And then my wifi went out yesterday, and I never finished the chapter until like an hour ago. 
> 
> So sorry about the delay. I’m gonna work on at least a chapter a week. I will actually follow that schedule for now.
> 
> Anyways, thank you for all of the feedback! It feels good to know you guys enjoy reading this!
> 
> I feel like this chapter is kinda lacking, but I had a lot of writer’s block when writing this. Hopefully it isn’t bad? Let me know one way or the other, I am so open for criticisms.
> 
> Enjoy this late update!

Keith woke up the next morning, and the constant anger he felt wasn’t as strong as it usually was. That was weird. Keith scowled at the ceiling, trying to gain a sense of normalcy.

Someone being nice to him for _one_ day wasn’t going to change everything. Keith was willing to bet that Shiro would get tired of him eventually, finally realize that Keith was horrible, and leave. Just like everyone else did. Keith silently reprimanded himself for putting so much hope into Shiro after only knowing him for a few hours. 

Sure, he told Keith information that was highly classified. And he bought him food and a really good milkshake. And, he was...kind of nice. Okay, he was nice. But, that didn’t mean Keith could trust him. 

Keith ran a hand through his hair with a sigh, then forced himself to get ready for school. He was _so_ not ready for another day in hell.

* * *

Keith ignored most of the lessons like he usually did, so he spent the majority of the day recalling the things Shiro taught him. Keith was absentmindedly drawing circles on his finished math worksheet, thinking about the ice of Kerberos, when his attention was brought back to his teacher. 

“Keith, would you like to put number five on the board for us?” his teacher said. 

Keith sighed, he hated this guy. Phrasing it as a question only gave the illusion of a choice, and it pissed Keith off more than just telling him to go up there. Keith snagged his paper and walked to the front of the room begrudgingly. 

As Keith was walking, some kid’s foot tripped him, causing him to stumble around in order to not fall. All of the kids in his class laughed as Keith righted himself, his face red. Keith glared at the kid who tripped him, who only laughed innocently in response. 

Keith hurried to the board, solved the problem, and walked away. When the same kid tried to trip him again, Keith kicked his leg as hard as he could while still making it look like an accident. The kid glared at him, and Keith glared daggers right back as he sat down in his seat. 

The day continued on, and Keith sagged in relief as the final bell rang. Keith packed up as quickly as possible, and he was out of the building in record time. 

Keith walked back to the home at a fast pace, ignoring all the other kids with their friends. He didn’t care about the friends part, he just wanted to avoid them as much as possible. They were all annoying and rude, and Keith did not want to deal with them after what happened earlier. 

It wasn’t nearly as bad as usual, but once summer started, kids would have a lot more opportunities to make his life worse. And Keith didn’t know if he wanted to get into more fights, despite how much he liked them.

Keith sighed forlornly as he opened the door to the home, stepping inside as quietly as possible. He toed off his shoes and snuck to his room, awkwardly hopping around every floorboard that would creak. 

With one final hop, he jumped into his room and shut the door. Keith tossed his bag on his subpar bed, then flopped facedown right next to it. He groaned into his scratchy, uncomfortable, threadbare sheets while he wiggled around on the bed until he was lying down normally. 

Keith was content to stay there until Wednesday rolled around, but he knew that he would get in so much trouble if he relaxed for even a second. 

So with a reluctant sigh, Keith took out his homework and did it halfheartedly. Math was easy, science was a breeze, history was boring like it always was, and English was another stupid book. 

It was the same exact thing every day: get up, go to school, be teased and bullied by everyone, stay alone all day, maybe get into a fight, do homework in his room, do all of the chores, and then stare at the ceiling until he fell asleep.

Keith shoved his homework into the backpack that was definitely going to fall apart in a week, then he shoved the whole thing onto the floor. He curled up into himself in the corner of the room, wrapping his arms tightly around his knees. Keith’s cheek sat on his knees as he looked at the depressing room around him. 

Bare walls that had definitely seen better days, and another lone bed on the other side of the ridiculously small room. It honestly looked like no one had lived in the room for ten years, but that was sadly not the case. The other bed would only be used for a couple more weeks until the kid who slept there would be adopted.

Keith glared at that bed in resentment. Good kids were adopted, so Keith would stay here forever. Keith knew that it wasn’t the boy’s fault for being cute and likable by prospective parents who just wanted to feel good for _adopting_ a kid in _need_. In Keith’s opinion, it was bullshit.

Keith stopped brooding for a moment to mentally high five himself for swearing. Yeah, he was a true rebel.

The sudden thought of wanting to get adopted popped into Keith’s head, but he didn’t want or need that. Why would he want something he could never achieve?

And besides, no one was going to replace his dad. _Ever_.

He never got to know his mom except bits and pieces his dad told him, but Keith knew his dad. Keith couldn’t keep anything from his early childhood. Except one thing.

Keith listened intently to the people in the home, then deemed it safe to take out the present from both of his parents. Keith shoved his hand under his mattress and ruffled around until he got a solid hold on the hilt, pulling it out into the open.

Keith was still awestruck every time he saw the knife. He didn’t know _why_ his mom wanted to give him a knife, but he loved it anyways. Knives were _awesome_ and this wasn’t like any knife Keith had ever seen or heard of before. 

The metal was something unknown to him, and the symbol on the blade near the hilt’s meaning always escaped Keith. He didn’t know what it was for, but it gave him fire to fight against everything. As in, punching and kicking his way through his problems. Keith’s fingers lightly traced the sharp edges of the blade, finding comfort in the cold metal of it.

Keith blankly fidgeted with the knife for what felt like a few minutes, but apparently turned into a few hours, Keith learned, when his roommate finally walked into their room. 

Keith shoved his knife under his pillow quickly as he noticed the dark sky through their window. Damn, no dinner tonight. 

Keith was glad that Shiro had gotten him food last night. Keith sighed as he lied down on his stiff bed, still in his clothes for the day. He needed Shiro’s unfunny, yet informative personality to shake up his life a bit.

Keith fell asleep with the thought that Wednesday couldn’t come soon enough.

* * *

Keith literally sprinted out of school Wednesday afternoon as he ran straight to the library, skipping going back to the home for a moment. The old hag wouldn’t care if he was gone or not; she’d probably think he died or ran off, and she would definitely be happy. 

Keith pushed those thoughts away for later as he focused on running to his meeting with Shiro. He somehow reached the library quicker than he expected to, so he quietly entered the library and went back into the quiet corner they sat in last week. 

Keith took off his backpack and let it fall carelessly to the ground as he collapsed into the soft couch tiredly. Running that fast shouldn’t be possible, but here Keith was, tired from that run. He was actually kind of impressed. Keith knew he was fit, but he didn’t expect that.

Keith shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts and his sweat, and he was reaching down to grab his backpack when a hand suddenly landed on his head. Keith swung out his fist into the chest of whoever touched him, and he only realized who it was when he looked at his assailant.

“Shiro!” Keith exclaimed, standing up to face the man. 

Shiro stood there, one hand up in surrender as the other rubbed the spot where Keith punched him. “Hey, Keith. Sorry for startling you. You have a strong arm, even if it lacks form.”

Keith stood there in shock. Shiro wasn’t mad? Despite that, Keith needed to apologize. That was what people did when they accidentally punched the one person they liked. 

“I, uh,” Keith stammered.

Shiro smiled down at him. “It’s okay, no apology needed. It was my fault for startling you.”

“But I—“

“Keith, I said it was okay,” Shiro said as he sat down next to him on the couch. “Well, to get this greeting to go the way I intended it to—hi, Keith. It’s nice to see you again.”

Keith nodded awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. Hey.”

“How’s it been going?” Shiro asked.

Keith shrugged and said, “Good.” Which was a complete lie. 

“How was school today?”

“...It was school.”

Shiro nodded knowingly with a quiet laugh, making Keith’s face redden slightly. 

The two lapsed into an awkward silence, and Keith didn’t know what to do. He would move his focus between his hoodie’s drawstrings and Shiro as he thought about what to do. Should he say something?

Thankfully, Shiro cleared his throat before Keith could make more of a fool of himself. “So, we should probably get started. Ready, Keith?”

“Uh, just a second,” Keith said. 

He reached down next to him to pull his backpack into his lap, but as he lifted it a little too quickly, Keith heard a ripping noise. And then, all of the stuff in his backpack fell across the floor as the entire bottom of his backpack ripped apart.

Keith stared at his stuff in open-mouthed shock for what felt like forever, but was only a few seconds. Was his luck really that bad? Or was it purposeful sabotage? 

Keith moved his gaze to the ruined backpack in his hands, and that was when his anger finally kicked in. He glared and sneered at the stupid and cheap bag in his hands as he slammed it as hard as possible into the ground next to the pile. Keith fell back into the couch cushions, groaning into his hands. 

Of course his backpack had to break, and in front of Shiro—oh, crap, Shiro was still there!

Keith moved his hands away quickly to see Shiro kneeling on the carpeted ground, picking up Keith’s ratty notebooks very carefully, like they were fragile and important displays in a museum. 

Keith joined Shiro on the ground to help pick up his own stuff, a scowl still present on his face. He grabbed his stuff with a lot less finesse than Shiro, holding his notebooks and papers tight against his chest. 

Keith silently cursed the backpack that he _knew_ was older than he was. 

“Keith, are you okay?” Shiro asked. 

Keith glanced up at Shiro to see a worried frown and a look in his eyes that reminded Keith of the way he looked when they were leaving the diner. Shiro looked like he was really thinking about something that Keith couldn’t guess, but it seemed serious.

Keith nodded curtly as his eyes switched back to his pile of stuff, awkwardly shoving more things into his stuffed arms. 

Keith sat back against the couch when he couldn’t hold anything more, and he leaned his head back with a frustrated huff.

“Stupid backpack,” Keith muttered under his breath. 

Keith watched as Shiro got the rest of Keith’s stuff, holding it carefully to avoid damage compared to the crumpled mess in Keith’s arms. Shiro was being so gentle with it all, even though he didn’t even have to pick up the stuff in the first place.

“You didn’t have to pick it up,” Keith mentioned quietly.

Shiro turned his head towards Keith with a gentle smile gracing his lips. “I wanted to help out, so don’t worry about it.”

Shiro set the items on the table in front of the couch, so Keith did the same. Keith stared at everything on the table, then looked to his torn backpack, heaving out a sigh. 

“Hopefully you have another backpack at home?” Shiro asked. 

Keith shook his head. He saw the surprise on Shiro’s face in the raise of his eyebrows, and Keith hoped that he wouldn’t have to elaborate on why.

“Can your parents get you a new one?” 

Keith hesitated to respond, which was apparently its own answer. Shiro gave Keith that look again, nodded, and stood up while picking up Keith’s stuff. 

“Shiro, what—,” Keith tried to ask, confused about what the man was doing.

“Let’s go buy you a new bag. One that won’t rip on you,” Shiro said calmly, like it was the most normal thing in the world. 

Keith was _so confused_. Why was Shiro offering to buy him _more_ stuff? First dinner and a milkshake, and now a backpack? Shiro barely knew him; it just made no sense!

“You don’t have to,” Keith semi-pleaded. “I can just, um, find something else.”

Shiro smiled down at Keith. “It’s no big deal, I just want to help you out.”

“Why?” Keith asked, regretting the question the moment it came out of his mouth. Keith was hitting himself internally; why did he ask that? It was going to make things worse for himself. 

And Shiro had that _look_ in his eyes again. It was...calculating. Keith could practically see the wheels turning in Shiro’s head, trying to almost...understand him. 

Oh boy, Keith had to fix this. 

“I meant, uh, why are you doing this for a kid you barely even know?”

Shiro’s calculating expression relaxed into a small smile as he said, “You seem like a good kid, Keith. And I’ll hopefully get to know you more if we continue these lessons. 

“So, come on. Maybe you’ll find a space one.”

Keith wanted to tell Shiro that he wasn’t a good kid, but he was so shocked from being called that by _anyone_ that he couldn’t ruin Shiro’s image of him. The unfamiliar happiness he felt last week came back along with a sense of guilt for keeping the truth from Shiro. But...Keith didn’t have to tell him, and it would be fine.

Keith hid his inner turmoil with his typical anger and indifference. He stood up and crossed his arms with a small frown.

“I’m not a kid, Shiro,” he mumbled. 

Shiro raised an eyebrow in amusement as they walked out. “Really? How old are you, Keith?”

“I’m almost twelve!” Keith defended. 

“So, you’re eleven,” Shiro stated with a smirk.

“Almost twelve. It’s different.”

Shiro burst out laughing at that, and Keith’s face turned red. 

“Wanna know something, Keith?” Shiro asked, still laughing. “If you measure your age by how old you’re going to be, then you’re still a kid.”

Keith’s face was burning in embarrassment as Shiro continued to laugh, and Keith just _had_ to get back at him.

“Well, at least I’m not old like you. Have you seen your gray hairs?”

Shiro stopped laughing so quickly, his face turning into an expression of slight horror. “You...were kidding about the gray hairs, right?”

Keith shrugged, causing Shiro to make the stupidest distressed noise Keith had ever heard. He started laughing as Shiro mourned over his graying hairs, and then Shiro realized.

The man looked to Keith in betrayal. “I can’t believe you. To make a man believe that he was graying _prematurely_ is a crime.”

Keith snorted at Shiro’s dramatics, which made Shiro laugh as well. Keith felt that happiness again, and it felt...nice. Different. It was something that Keith wouldn’t mind getting used to. 

They walked in companionable silence until Shiro thanked Keith for holding the door open for him, seeing as how his arms were full with Keith’s homework. The two walked around until they found the section with bags.

“You can pick anything you want Keith, so go look around.”

Keith nodded and walked off to look at bags. He completely ignored the obvious kid’s section since he wouldn’t find anything there. He looked at all the options around him, but they were all the same thing in a different color. 

Then, his eyes caught on a satchel that looked exactly like the bag of the main character from his favorite conspiracy theory/cryptid hunting show. Keith picked it up to look at it properly, and he knew it was the one.

He walked back to Shiro, and Shiro smiled at him when he saw Keith coming. “That was quick. You can look some more if you want to.”

“Nope, this one is good,” Keith said.

Shiro nodded, then traded Keith’s stuff for his new backpack so he could pay for it. The transaction was quick, and then Keith happily dropped his heavy pile into his new bag, slinging it over his shoulders. 

“Like it?” Shiro asked.

Keith nodded with a small smile. With this bag, maybe he could one day go cryptid hunting like he always wanted to. 

Keith was really surprised that Shiro was being so nice to him, but it was probably because he didn’t know Keith that well yet. He was willing to bet that Shiro would hate him like everyone else soon enough. 

“Now, Keith. Do you want to learn about astrophysics?”

Well, for now, Keith could enjoy it. And he _definitely_ wanted to learn about astrophysics.


	4. Unfair Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So I guess the update schedule is now, officially, every Friday. I think that should work. 
> 
> Thanks again for all the feedback on this fic! I hope I can live up to your expectations. Things should be picking up speed from now on, so let’s see where this goes.

Keith was had a penchant for getting into fights. Since so many people thought that it was fun to bother him constantly, he had to learn how to get them off his back. 

Did teachers appreciate it when Keith gave kids black eyes? No, but it was their own faults for not getting involved before it turned into something violent. For all their preaching about not tolerating “bullying,” they sure did a horrible job at actually noticing it.

So, when Keith got into a fight off of school grounds for once, he was kind of proud of himself for waiting so long to punch some kids’ teeth in.

Keith’s school was surprisingly big, and there were so many kids in his grade. He didn’t know which kids had been bothering him all day since everyone enjoyed pissing him off, but they were _really_ annoying. 

The boys had been shoving him around all day, whispering things to Keith to rile him up. 

“ _I bet you stole that bag, it’s too new for someone like you._ ”

“ _Who’s homework do you cheat off of to get those grades you shouldn’t have?_ ”

“ _You probably go around scaring little kids to get enjoyment, huh, freak?_ ”

Stupid stuff like that, all day long. They shoved him into lockers, pushed him into other people so it looked like it was on purpose, pulled on his hair, and more stuff that made Keith angrier as he thought about it. 

And now, they had to follow him as he left school. They sniggered among themselves as they said things Keith tried his best to tune them out. Their entire goal was to piss him off, and Keith regretted to admit that it always worked. Every. Single. Time.

“Hey, Keith!” Keith’s glare at the ground became more intense at one of the boys’ shouting. “You know, none of us actually know why you’re an orphan. But, since it’s _you_ , it had to have been your fault.”

Keith froze on the sidewalk, his eyes open wide in shock. He slowly turned around to face the group to see cruel smirks on all of their faces. Keith could vaguely sense that his hands were shaking in his hoodie pockets. 

“What?” Keith whispered.

“Yeah, I bet you either killed your parents, or they killed themselves. They probably couldn’t stand having such a disappointment for a son, so they offed themselves before—“

The kid’s words were cut off so abruptly by Keith’s fist connecting with his nose that everyone, including Keith, was surprised. Keith didn’t even know that he had moved until he dully noticed that the boy was on his back, cradling his nose through moans of pain. 

“Shut up,” Keith seethed, glaring daggers at all the shocked boys. 

Keith spun on his heels and briskly walked away, wanting to be done with them for the day, but before he had the chance to, someone ran into him, shoving him painfully down onto the concrete. Whoever knocked him over flipped him forcefully onto his back, so that he could punch Keith in the face. It was the same kid that Keith had punched, and he noticed angrily that the other boys were ready to get involved as well. 

Keith wrestled with the kid on top of him, trying to gain the momentum to throw him off, but the kid was much bigger than Keith, who was one of the smaller kids in his grade. That didn’t stop Keith for long because Keith _never_ backed down from a fight. 

With all of his might, Keith wiggled his knee free to jab the kid hard in the ribs. He fell off with a gasp of pain, and then the others joined in. 

One managed to strongly kick Keith in the ribs before he could roll away in time, causing a sharp pain to blossom on his side. Keith jumped up to his fet before someone else could get a hit in, and he punched the nearest boy. Keith saw one kid out of the corner of his eye getting ready to throw sharp rocks, so knew he had to get out of there. It was an unfair fight of four to one, and as much as Keith hated running away, he had to do it. 

Keith tried to find an opening out, but three of them surrounded him menacingly. Keith got into a defensive stance, his mouth curled into a snarl as he tried to find his best way out of this. 

Just as Keith was about to use his very bad plan, all three of the boys attacked him at once. Keith could only block the punch of one them, so the other two managed to land a hit to Keith’s chest and his face. 

Keith stumbled back from the force, but quickly righted himself to avoid another punch to the face. He did not need another black eye; they always sucked. Keith quickly retaliated by kicking one kid’s legs out from underneath him, then took advantage of the opening to jump over the kid and run to the library where he was supposed to meet Shiro. 

Keith sprinted away from the scene, running faster than he ever had. Keith heard the boys shout behind him, and a quick glance showed that they were quickly chasing after him. Keith growled under his breath and ran even faster towards town. 

Keith hated this, and school, and people, and everything in general. He just wanted _one_ day for everything to be normal, and for nothing to go wrong. Couldn’t he get such a simple wish to come true?

The only time where he wasn’t miserable was when he was with Shiro. They had met up for several sessions at this point, and Keith enjoyed them a lot. Shiro was so informative, and he was always willing to answer Keith’s questions. 

Keith was still apprehensive about fully trusting Shiro, but he was a nice guy. He took Keith out to eat at the end of each lesson, and he was the only person in Keith’s life who seemed to actually care about him. Keith still worried that he would mess it up soon, but he was trying hard to not be his normal, awful, Keith-self.

Keith lost his train of thought as a something hit his arm, leaving a scrape along his arm and a tear in his hoodie. Keith continued running as the boys tried to throw more rocks at him. 

If he could get to the busy part of town soon, then the boys would have to leave him alone since there would be too many people. With that thought in mind, Keith pushed himself into an even faster run. It lasted a few minutes, and Keith managed to get some good distance between him and the group, but then he just had to trip and fall. 

Keith hissed at the sharp sting in his palms as he forced himself to keep going. He couldn’t slow down, so he just kept on running and running until he saw the library approaching. He had never been so glad that the library wasn’t very far into town. 

Keith ripped the doors to the library open and burst into the cool building, somehow managing to be quiet. Keith sighed in relief and stood against the doors to catch his breath.

After a few moments, Keith finally walked to his and Shiro’s couch in the back. Shiro was already there waiting for him, and the man waved with a smile when he noticed Keith. 

Keith waved back, but Shiro’s expression of slight horror that came across his face was a surprise. 

“Keith, what happened to your hands?” Shiro asked, clear worry in his voice.

Keith turned his hands so that he could see them, and oh damn, he understood where Shiro was coming from now. His palms were coated in blood, the skin practically ripped to shreds. Keith had been so pre-occupied with running that he completely forgot about falling.

Keith sheepishly looked up at Shiro. “I, uh...fell.”

Shiro recovered from his shock as he stood from the couch. “Go to the bathroom and wash your hands off, then clean them with soap. I’ll meet you there.”

Keith nodded and walked to the bathroom. Keith didn’t need Shiro to remind him to clean his hands since he knew that cuts this bad could get infected. 

Keith used his shoulder to push the door to the bathroom open and immediately let the water rush over his hands. He hissed at first as it stung his open cuts, but seeing the blood and dirt wash away was a welcome sight. As Keith cleaned everything off, he noticed that the injuries mainly covered his palms. 

Just as Keith finished gently drying off his hands, Shiro came into the bathroom with a small first aid kit in hand. Shiro patted a spot on the counter, intending for Keith to jump up to sit, but Keith leveled Shiro a look as he held up his hands. 

“Right,” Shiro said, an embarrassed blush coloring his cheeks. 

Keith was softly laughing at Shiro’s embarrassment until Shiro picked him up and placed him on the counter. Keith glared at him, and he had the audacity to laugh. Keith would kick him when the chance arose.

Sobering up, Shiro took Keith’s hands and worked on bandaging them. “So, you fell,” Shiro stated. “How’d that happen?”

“I tripped,” Keith said.

“And why did you trip?”

Keith shrugged as he tensed up. He didn’t want Shiro to know that he was in a fight. “Just happened, I guess.”

“Okay,” Shiro said. Keith was glad that the conversation was over, but then Shiro asked, “Did you get those bruises on your face and that cut on your arm when you fell, too?”

Keith stiffened at Shiro’s semi-accusatory tone, and he regretted letting Shiro know that he was onto him. Keith ignored the question, choosing instead to glare a hole into his lap.

Shiro sighed as he finished wrapping gauze around Keith’s hands, and he moved onto the cut on his arm. The man stayed silent as he worked until he was done. Then, he looked up at Keith with that same look he always looked at him with, like he was trying to dig down deep into Keith’s mind to figure out what was going on.

Shiro placed both of his hands on Keith’s shoulders, holding them in a firm, yet comforting grip. “If you ever want to talk to me about something, you can. It can be something simple or something serious, doesn’t matter. I’m here for you, Keith, if you ever need me to be.”

Keith felt his chest tighten and his mouth drop open in surprise. Then, the guilt came. He couldn’t tell Shiro because then he wouldn’t _want_ to listen to the problems of a kid like him.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Keith mumbled so quietly that he would be surprised if Shiro even heard it. He was going to be mad, after offering Keith an outlet and then having him turn him down—

“Okay.”

What.

“What?” Keith asked. 

Finally looking up at Shiro, he was shocked to see that he was smiling at Keith. He wasn’t mad?

“If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. I would never want to push you into doing something you didn’t want to do. But just know that if you ever need or want to, I’m here.”

Shiro’s smile brightened as he ruffled Keith’s hair playfully, reassuring him of his words. 

Keith...didn’t know what to say. He was being so nice and considerate and patient and nice and he cared—oh god, he _cared_. About _Keith_. And Keith was so, so scared that Shiro would stop caring once he found out who Keith really was, and Keith knew that that moment would absolutely break him because he actually liked Shiro.

He _really_ liked Shiro. The man reminded him of his dad, and that quick observation he made that first night really was true. It was almost like...a brother? 

Yeah, that waitress’s description of them fit what Keith thought. He kind of saw Shiro as a brother. And oh, damn, he was _terrified_ that such a good thing would be ruined. 

“Keith,” Shiro said, startling him out of his not-good thoughts, “we don’t really know each other that well yet. Sure, we both like stuff about space, but I don’t know the little things. So, do you want to get to know each other better?”

“How?” Keith asked, pushing his thoughts aside to enjoy these moments with Shiro while they lasted. 

“We could just ask each other questions, go back and forth for a while. Then, we can get to the science. You start.”

Keith nodded, trying to come up with a quick question. “Umm, what’s your favorite cryptid?”

Keith’s brain died the moment the question came out of his mouth, and his face was beet red. Shiro smiled in excited disbelief, clearly not knowing how to respond. He laughed once, very awkwardly, then helped Keith down from the counter. 

“Well, uh, that sure is an interesting first question,” Shiro laughed. “But I’ll have to go with the Loch Ness Monster.”

Keith recovered from his embarrassment by frowning and kicking Shiro’s ankle. The man looked affronted and confused at being kicked, and Keith just crossed his arms. 

“That’s lame, Mothman is cooler.”

“Hey, it is not lame. It deserves as much love as all other cryptids,” Shiro defended.

“Nope,” Keith said, popping the p, “It was just someone taking a picture of a stick. It couldn’t even live in that lake.”

“Oh, but Mothman is so real?”

Keith scoffed. “Uh, of course he is? How could he not be real?”

Shiro leveled Keith with a look that screamed “done,” an eyebrow raised in disbelief.

“Well, he’s more real than a stick! Now you ask one.”

Shiro laughed as he shook his head, ruffling Keith’s hair again. Keith kind of hated the way it made him feel good.

“What’s your favorite color?”

Keith rolled his eyes at the boring question, but he was smiling despite that. Oh, Shiro was so lame. Just like the Loch Ness Monster. But, Keith liked him anyways. 

“Red.”

Well, if Shiro was going to make this boring, Keith could definitely spice up the night. 

“Shiro, what’s your favorite tarantula species?”

Shiro was shocked for all five seconds before he laughed loudly, startling the other people in the library and making Keith smile. “I have absolutely no idea. Whichever is the cutest.”


End file.
